“I am guessing San, however, was another story? I am sure you know exactly where he is.” Kai had tried to find that son of a bitch many times, needing so many answers from someone who had once claimed to be as close as a brother.
Kai had never told anyone through their senior year about San’s family going bankrupt when their empire collapsed. He had taken his friend with him and ensured he finished his education. No one knew his father had gone to prison for fraud. Kai had protected him well, yet he had repaid it by sleeping with Kai’s girlfriend.
She watched Yue sitting with a restless aura because she wanted to play, and they were making this about their past. Kai followed her gaze, and he also exhaled with a heavy realization that Yue was meant to be the focus today. He had agreed to once a week until they got to know one another, yet five minutes in, she was at another table. He was wasting his precious time on the wrong person.
Meilei had him riled up and agitated, and that conversation was leading somewhere painful. He didn’t come here intending to sit alone and chat about the past. He was glad she had drawn his focus back where it was intended.
Meilei was sipping her iced drink, the straw wedged in her lips, and her eyes had not left them in hours. She allowed Yue space to play because she seemed like it was what she wanted, but her heart had been heavy with how well Kai seemed to gel with her. It’s not that she didn’t want them to. He was her biological father, but it would make it tougher on her should Kai still pursue legal custody. Every nudge closer to Yue was the possibility of pulling her out of Meilei’s life.
“How’s Meilei taking it?” Suying sighed, glad their princess was having fun but also torn. She had seen how uptight she was all night and could bet she didn’t sleep.
“Hmmmm.” Ling didn’t want to make it obvious Meilei was the topic and implied she wasn’t good. She could feel the fragile and emotional state coming from her; her blank expression hadn’t changed all morning. Meilei was lost in a world of confusion and stress, and Ling knew she needed to let her think it out. They all had to accept this new dynamic and make Yue’s happiness the focus.
Over her dead body, would that man get that title.
Suying blew out air. Stretching out her back, she rotated her neck to get the knots out. It had been a tough morning made worse by the stress of missing Yue’s first visitation. She could relax now, though, knowing it was going well, and flipped through her phone screen to find her break game. Her tried and tested stress buster. It would take her mind off everything while she digested her crappy lunch.
Suying could never switch off when on duty, so she had gotten into the habit of finding a quiet space at break and playing her battle-based fantasy game. She had a high level and a decent score, but this one play kept her stuck for three days. She could not move past a goblin or ogre thing on a bridge and was so sick of trying to reach the next level that it was no longer fun. What was usually enjoyable had been frustrating the hell out of her.
She checked her noodles, stirred them, and pulled them into the space between her resting elbows to focus on the game. Beeps, crashes, axe swings, and the ‘uh oh’ noise of her character being badly beaten almost instantly made her rage.
“Oh, come on.” She slapped the counter and reset it to try again.
She got to the exact same spot in under a minute and failed.
Suying almost swiveled out of her chair as she spun and almost face-banged the person leaning over her. Casually towering in, he had leaned one hand on the table and watched over her shoulder. He was so close he had to dodge back so her knees didn’t swipe his legs away, and she gawped in wide-eyed shock.
The guy who had made her heart stop at first sight.
And now again at second sight.
Still effortlessly jaw-dropping gorgeous.
Still capable of sending her heart and stomach into chaos.
She had given up stalking the store for the past few days as he had never shown up again.
Here in all his flawless, sportily dressed with damp hair glory.
Dee.
Suying’s heart skipped a beat. Almost choking on her salvia she turned away quickly to her noodles and window as heat engulfed her face. Embarrassed at nearly taking him out, making her internally cringe. She hadn’t expected him to show up today and was less prepared for him to be this bodily near.
Suying almost stopped living. Turning to stone and holding everything inside from moving.